Matt Dike, Rap Producer and Delicious Vinyl Founder, Dead at 56

Matt Dike, Los Angeles hip-hop producer and founder of the label Delicious Vinyl, has died, his label confirmed yesterday. Dike passed away in mid-January at his home following a battle with salivary gland cancer, the Los Angeles Timesreports. He was 56.

The notoriously reclusive producer is most famous for his work on ’80s hip-hop classics like Tone Loc’s hits “Wild Thing” and “Funky Cold Medina,” and Young MC’s “Bust a Move,” as well as his production work on The Beastie Boys’ seminal 1989 album Paul’s Boutique. A good portion of the LP was recorded in Dike’s apartment at the time.

Dike founded Delicious Vinyl in 1987, following a move from New York to Los Angeles in 1980 (In New York, he began to DJ and roomed with a pre-fame Jean-Michel Basquiat). The label’s first hit was Romeo and Master Rhyme’s “Crackerjack,” a N.W.A. diss track. Dike also collaborated with Public Enemy and remixed Aerosmith’s “The Other Side.” Prior to starting Delicious Vinyl, Dike also co-founded and regularly DJed at the influential Los Angeles nightclub Power Tools.